Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good.

The practice of vipassana is the study of the self. When you study physical and mental phenomena, you are studying the truth about yourself.

The six realms of existence are like a dream, why build a prison for yourself?

The first step toward faith is to admit that we don't know everything.

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.

Our basic nature is pure awareness that simply cognizes experience. Everything else is temporary and adventitious.

The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.

In meditation, we are continuously discovering who and what we are.

The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds.

The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.

The key to transformation is not to fight with our experience but to open to it with awareness.

Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good.

In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.

True happiness is not about getting rid of all our problems, but about changing our relationship to them.

Freedom is not found in the absence of difficulty, but in our relationship to it.

The realization of impermanence leads not to despair but to a deeper appreciation of the preciousness of each moment.

When concentration is developed, wisdom arises. When wisdom arises, one becomes disenchanted with the five aggregates.

The mind is everything. What you think, you become.

Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation.

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind.

What we learn about the world is colored by the way we approach it.

The Buddha's path is not about becoming somebody different but about becoming more and more who you really are.

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

All experiences are preceded by mind, led by mind, made by mind. Speak or act with a corrupted mind, and suffering follows as the wagon wheel follows the hoof of the ox.

Panic is a gateway to wisdom. When we learn to stay present with our panic, it becomes our teacher.

There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.

Your mind is like a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds.

Meditation is not about escaping from difficulty but about meeting it with awareness.

The highest mantra is to be without deception. The highest medicine is to have few desires. The highest meditation is not to be attached.

Liberation is found in the practice, not in the theory.